The number of private equity funds seeking money from investors reached an all-time high in the second quarter, while those which completed fundraising hit a record low, according to data released by market research firm Preqin.

The Middle East’s private equity funds, which have long lagged behind their global peers, have built up at least $5bn in capital ready to invest in new opportunities, industry leaders said this week. They will also increase endeavours to make new investments this year.

According to a report by Moody’s Investors Service last week, workers would be wise to choose companies owned by private equity. Moody’s data shows that such companies are much less likely to be liquidated when the going gets tough. It turns out that private equity does more to save the jobs of workers at struggling companies than other types of owners do.

Somewhat insulated from the recession anxieties and sovereign debt default fears that gripped the developed markets, fast-growing emerging market economies from Asia to Latin America continued to beckon global private equity investors.

Private equity firms are gearing up for a possible deterioration of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and an extended period of low economic growth, through a mixture of refinancing and hedges.

Asia Pacific Private equity investors are far more pessimistic about India than global investors, finds a global PE study by Coller Capital, a leading global investor in private equity secondaries, which publishes a Private Equity Global barometer annually.

The US$23.2 billion (Dh85.21bn) Middle Eastern private equity industry is struggling as fund-raising gets tougher and viable exit options diminish. About $700 million was raised last year, compared with more than $6bn at the industry’s peak in 2007, according to the Mena Private Equity Association’s annual report.

Like many other developed countries, Australia faces an aging population, more obesity and higher cancer rates, and is spending more to tackle those problems. The government spent $5,479 per person on health care in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2010, the latest figures available, up from $4,710 four years earlier.

Islamic private-equity investments are poised to quadruple in Malaysia to US$3.1bil (RM9.7bil) in five years on government incentives, according to the industry’s biggest fund manager.

China will amend its fund law to start regulating private equity funds, Xinhua News Agency said, citing Wu Xiaoling, vice chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress.

China plans to allow asset management companies to invest in private equity with funds from their special-asset management units. The plan is meant to prompt private investment in unlisted companies’ stocks and debt, according to a statement posted on the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s website.

Blackstone Group chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the private equity industry’s leaders need to do a better job of marketing if they want to dispel popular misconceptions about what their firms do.

Axa Private Equity, the investment arm of French insurance group Axa, said it would buy a portfolio of 11 private equity fund investments worth about $850 million from the private equity arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS.

US investment manager BlackRock is buying Swiss Re’s European private equity arm, marking the second deal for a private equity fund manager in as many days as sellers contend with a new regulatory landscape and tough trading.

The auction for a potential sale of Getty Images Inc. has progressed to the second round, with several private-equity firms putting in initial bids of around $4 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC is pushing ahead with a $4 billion sale of Getty Images Inc, the largest supplier of stock photos, video and other digital content, to private equity, two people familiar with the matter said.

Control of Wood Mackenzie, one of the Scotland’s oldest and most lauded companies, has been sold by Chartehouse to rival private equity group Hellman and Friedman, in a deal valuing the business at £1.1bn.

David Jones Ltd. said that a little-known private equity firm, EB Private Equity, had made a 1.65 billion Australian dollar (US$1.67 billion) takeover approach for the company, sending its shares surging.

Private equity-backed EverBank Financial Corp said it would buy GE Capital’s Business Property Lending Inc division for $2.51 billion to boost its ability to lend to small and mid-size companies, driving up its shares more than 4 percent.

Private-equity shops have been portrayed as villains this year in the run-up to the presidential election. But today, Carlyle is being cast something of an American hero in its deal to take over a Sunoco refinery in Philadelphia.

Private-equity firm RRJ Capital Ltd. is raising $5 billion for its second Asia-focused fund, and has already secured more than $3 billion in commitments from investors, according to a person familiar with the matter. The fund is targeting a first-close of September, the person said.

Billionaire Sam Zell’s Equity Group Investments LLC is seeking $1 billion for its next distressed private-equity fund, said two people familiar with the matter.

CapitaMalls Asia, the shopping malls arm of Singapore’s CapitaLand, said on Monday it has set up a US$1 billion (S$1.27 billion) closed-end private equity fund that will invest in Chinese malls.

Compass Diversified Holdings (CODI) describes itself as “an acquirer, owner, and manager of high cash flow, niche leading middle market businesses operating in attractive industries.” CODI is thus essentially a public middle-market private equity fund.

Abraaj Capital—a private equity fund that counts Middle East royal families and high net worth individuals and sovereign funds as investors—is exploring more investment opportunities in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

Gulf Capital, a leading alternative investment firm, was awarded the “Best Private Equity Firm in the Middle East” title for the second year in a row at the Banker Middle East Industry Awards 2012 yesterday (June 12) in Dubai.